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The MassDevice Weekly Roundup brings you the latest medical device news and information.
The MassDevice Checkup
Our weekly checkup takes the temperature of the public medical device companies in the three largest markets in the U.S.: Massachusetts, Minnesota and California. In addition to the indices for each state, which track the overall movement of the sector, we compare Monday morning’s opening share prices with their value when the markets close Friday afternoon and calculate the biggest gainers and losers. Read More
News
Device industry to Baucus: How about $15 billion instead?
The medical device manufacturing industry counters the $40 billion in fees proposed in the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform bill, but the offer is likely too low; more legislators and industry leaders add their voices to the protest chorus. Read More
Federal judge splits Cordis, Boston Scientific cases
Separate juries will decide the damages in a case alleging patent infringement filed by Cordis and Boston Scientific against each other. Read More
Jack Szostak, Harvard Medical School professor, wins Nobel Prize for medicine
The Harvard prof was one of three researchers honored with science’s highest prize for discovering how human cells age; the research is seen as instrumental in understanding cancer cells. Read More
Clinical trial to probe benefit of added medication for stent users
HCRI study brings together industry giants, drug companies to determine if prescribing blood-thinners over longer time frame lowers heart attack, stroke risks. Read More
Device tax survives in Senate Finance healthcare bill
Senate panel votes 13-10 along party lines to keep language establishing $4 billion annual tax on device manufacturers in the healthcare reform package. Read More
Solace Therapeutics wins CE Mark for female incontinence device
The Framingham, Mass.-based device maker’s non-surgical intravesical system gets the OK to hit the market in the European Union. Read More
Phase Forward inks deal with Hungarian pharma firm
Gedeon Richter will use the Waltham, Mass.-based firm’s clinical trial data management software. Read More
Report: M&A values to plunge nearly 50 percent this year
The value of mergers and acquisitions in 2009 is on track to be down by half compared with last year, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Read More
Industry leaders express concern as FDA clamps down on 510(k)s
An internal memo leaked by the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Food & Drug Administration intends to make its 510(k) approval process for medical devices even more stringent, prompting alarm from industry leaders. Read More
Covidien wins FDA nod for endotracheal tube
The Mansfield, Mass.-based devices giant subsidiary wins 510(k) approval for its TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tube. Read More
Zoll, Philips Healthcare land federal defibrillator contracts
Chelmsford, Mass.-based Zoll lands a $29.8 million deal and Andover’s Philips Healthcare wins a $26.6 million contract to supply the military and federal agencies with defibrillators. Read More
SeraCare lands $11 million in government contracts
The Milford, Mass.-based service provider lands new contracts and renews another for HIV and AIDs research with the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. Read More
Boston Scientific settles Cordis stent war for $716 million
The decade-long battle over stent technology between Boston Scientific and the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary is over. Read More
Hologic lands CE Mark for cervical cancer device
The Bedford, Mass.-based women’s health firm wins European approval for its ThinPrep integrated imager for cervical cancer screening. Read More
California’s House delegation protests medical device tax
Twenty Golden State representatives send a letter to Sen. Max Baucus opposing his proposed 10-year, $40 billion tax on medical device makers. Read More
Cordis appeals $23 million jury verdict in stent-cutting suit
The Johnson & Johnson subsidiary wants another trial after losing to Spectralytics in a patent infringement suit filed over laser stent-cutting technology. Read More
Philips recalls defibrillators on chip failure
A memory chip failure prompts the voluntary recall of about 5,400 HeartStart defibrillators by the Dutch conglomerate. Read More
BIO International convention comes to Boston in 2012
Organizers look to reprise the world’s largest biotech conference’s 2007 high-water mark, despite falling attendance numbers in recent years. Read More
Jobs
The MassDevice Career Connector: Open jobs in the medical device industry
Our jobs board has hundreds of open positions at medical device makers around the country. Read More
MassDevice Q&As
Dave Bergstein
The Zoíray Technologies founder and CEO on the next big thing in diagnostics, why his startup might be the company that delivers it and making his pitch at the MassMEDIC Investors Conference. Read More
Charles Mathews
The Boston Healthcare Associates reimbursement expert dishes on the healthcare reform push and how it will affect medical device makers, ahead of his keynote speech at the MassMEDIC 11th Annual Medtech Investors Conference. Read More
Blogs
MassDevice blog: Liveblogging the MassMEDIC 11th Annual Medtech Investors Conference
MassDevice was on hand for the presentations by 25 up-and-coming medical device startups. Our coverage starts here. Read More
Weekly Wireless Roundup: Text4Baby to launch soon?
Text4Baby missed its September launch target. Will it go live soon? Plus, the feds’ CTO tracks his eating habits via iPhone; the quantification of wireless wellness; and MedApps CEO Kent Dicks makes the case for dedicated health devices. Read More
MedGadget’s MedTech Monday: Anatomically correct heart models
Medical Simulation Corp. of Denver releases a set of precise cardiac models; a new radioactive PET imaging agent for melanoma; automatic drug-ferrying capsules; and an innovative laparoscopic surgical retractor. Read More
Dollars & Spence: Closing the loop on connectivity standards
The ASTM issues connectivity standards for medical devices. Read More
MassDevice blog: Obama announces $5 billion medical spending plan
President Barack Obama earmarks $5 billion in stimulus cash for medical research and Sen. Max Baucus aims to finish his healthcare reform bill by the end of the day. Read More
Featured Events
Oct. 7, Waltham, Mass. — Medical Development Group Forum “Merging Mindsets: Device-Biotech Combination Products”
“Three experienced professionals in this area with different perspectives will make presentations that include a survey of drug-device combinations now being marketed and in the pipeline. Unmet medical needs that could potentially be treated with novel drug-device combinations. The kinds of critical issues that drug-device development teams must understand and address. Case history of successful drug-device product development”
Oct. 27-28, Waltham, Mass. — Medical Product Outsourcing Symposium East
“The practice of outsourcing continues to present challenges to medical devices manufacturers. This event is a high-level educational and networking program, designed to offer relevant information for solving business-critical issues in an environment that fosters interaction and industry development.”
Oct. 27-28, Boston, Mass. — CIMIT Innovation Congress 2009
“Accelerating Healthcare Solutions Through Technology: The CIMIT Innovation Congress is the premier event catalyzing innovations in medical device technology. It’s the only place where academia, government, industry, and the military convene to learn and network with national leaders who are shaping tomorrow’s healthcare solutions.”
Other events
Oct. 6, Boston — CIMIT Forum Social Networking and Knowledge Sharing for Scientists and Researchers
Oct. 6, Boston — MassBio Investors Forum
Oct. 7, Cambridge, Mass. — The British Consulate-General of Boston’s Advantages and Challenges of Transatlantic Partnerships
Oct. 19-20, Lowell, Mass. — U.S./Ireland Emerging Technologies Conference
Oct. 23, Cambridge, Mass. — Healthcare and the Cloud
Oct. 26-27, Waltham, Mass. — New England-Israel Life Sciences Summit
Oct. 28th, Waltham — The Capital Network presents Networking for Fundraising Success
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